


Tomorrow is a Long Time...

by Queen_Slytherin07



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gore, Romance, Sexual Content, Tragedy, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-08-18 10:17:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8158615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Slytherin07/pseuds/Queen_Slytherin07
Summary: All hope just may be gone, however there still may be a chance. It is up to Nicole Montez to find out and with her love Daryl Dixon she may just be able to survive whether hope is still alive or not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically season two of The Walking Dead and the sequel to 'A Veil of Black and Gold'. This is a Daryl Dixon/OC story. I don't own any TWD rights or characters. They only thing in this story that I own is the changes made to the original plot and the OCs.

If today was not a crooked highway…

If tonight was not a crooked trail…

If tomorrow wasn't such a long time…

Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all…

Yes and only if my own true love was waitin'…

And if I could hear her heart a-softly poundin'…

Yes, only if she was lyin' by me…

Then I'd lie in my bed once again…

~~~

Nicole tried to remember what she was going to tell Daryl. There was something picking at the back of her brain she just couldn’t remember what it was.

Her and her fellow survivors were trying like Hell to get out of the city of Dallas. It was tough with their large convoy and walkers cutting them off at every turn.

Just when she finally remembered what she was going to tell Daryl he swore loudly.

“Nicole, take the wheel!” He threw open the truck door and stood calling out to Shane who was driving behind them. Nicole scrambled after Daryl to grab hold of the wheel and he yelled and swore at Shane to warn him about the herd of walkers about to overtake his vehicle.

“Oh my God,” Nicole whispered as she witnessed the horde in the rear view mirror. She began honking the horn trying to get the attention of the rest of the convoy. Daryl hissed at her to knock it off, that they didn’t need any more walkers coming towards them.

“Hey, slow down! He needs a ride!” Daryl shouted and Shane’s car was overrun. He barely made it out and began sprinting to the truck. He hopped into the bed and Nicole gunned down on the gas, trying to get away from the herd as fast as possible.

“Scoot,” Daryl demanded as he hopped back into the truck. She moved over and Daryl sped up, trying to get Shane to the RV. Once he was in he ran as Nicole covered him. He was pulled in through the door by Glenn and Dale. Once he was in, Daryl took his new position at the end of the convoy.

“It’s good you saw those walkers,” Nicole said out of breath without looking at Daryl. He turned to face her. “Shane would’ve died but you saved him.” Daryl growled as he violently slammed his foot hard on the brake, causing Nicole’s head to slam into the dash. “What the fuck?!” She yelled, looking at him with tearful eyes.

“Exactly, Nicole! What the fuck? You haven’t been the fucking same since we left the CDC! What is going on with you?!” She just stared at Daryl, at the beautiful man who only wanted to help her. She looked at him and the more she saw, the more she was certain that she couldn’t tell him the truth. She couldn’t tell him that she wished she stayed at the CDC with Jenner and Jacqui. How could she tell him that she had no hope?

So she just stared at him tears pouring from her eyes, the bruise on her forehead growing and her head feeling like it was about to split open. She just turned away from him and hugged her knees to her chest. Daryl didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to. Nicole could tell by how he was struggling to keep the truck at a reasonable speed that he wasn’t angry but hurt.

~~~

Once Nicole caught on to where the convoy was going, she mentally smiled. Rick must’ve remembered that Nicole and Rael and family in the city. Her cousin Guillermo and her abuelita would be more than happy to take them all in. She remembered how much her grandma loved cooking for a lot of people.

The convoy stopped a bit on the outside of Guillermo’s compound and everyone got out of their vehicles. Nicole quickly ran to find Rael. He was carrying a sleeping Bubba and she slowed as she approached.

“Abuela is here,” she whispered as Rick and Glenn began to lead the way through to the compound.

“Is that so?” He replied, looking down at her.

“Yea, when we came into the city last time we found them. They took us in and fed us and gave us shelter. We can be safe here.”

“Oh, you mean when you and Officer Friendly and that asshole Dixon came into the city for no good reason? When you could’ve saved Ray but left to save Merle instead?”

Nicole was hurt and angry with her brother for saying that but she didn’t know what to say. She just stood there looking up at her older brother, the only brother she had.

She remembered how they used to walk down to the school playground and just swing for hours, talking about things that they could never tell anyone else.

She longed for that relationship, she longed for her brother back.

He walked away from Nicole and made no inclination for her to follow him. She stood there by herself and fought to keep from breaking. She couldn’t show weakness right now, she had to keep it together.

“Nicole,” She turned to see T-Dog behind her. “Let’s catch up with the group.” She nodded and walked with T-Dog who put a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

When they all got inside, Nicole knew something was terribly wrong. There were no lookouts and the place stank of death.

She didn’t wait for the rest of the group, she ran into the compound past everyone, dodging everyone’s attempts to stop her.

She got far into the compound and the sight that greeted her was heart wrenching. All of her cousin’s men where now walker fodder. She ran through them looking for any sign of her family. There was none.

Daryl was the first to reach her, followed by Rick and Glenn. Nicole fell to her knees and began to cry. She was oblivious to the walkers walking toward her as she admitted defeat and broke apart.

She began to wail in absolute anguish, she cried for her family and the friends she had lost and her dad. She also cried for her brother and how deep in her heart she knew he wasn’t her brother anymore. The apocalypse had changed him and turned him into something worse than the walkers.

She closed her eyes and began to allow the darkness to overtake her. She was aware of the walkers but at this point she didn’t care. She waited for death to greet her and fell into darkness.

Nicole…

She could hear something, a voice calling her name.

Nicole…

She began to see a light penetrate the darkness. She found that odd, how can any ray of light enter her void.

Nicole…

She suddenly recognized the voice calling out to her. It was Daryl. She had been so unfair to him. Ever since she had known him he had hid in the dark shadow of his brother Merle, unable to be the person he really is.

Nicole!!!

She knew he didn’t deserve this, not from her. All of a sudden, she felt herself being ripped from the darkness and into the light. She opened her eyes and saw Daryl, looking at her with an angry face, but scared eyes.

“Nicole! Sweetheart, are you okay?” He was holding onto her like he was afraid that if he did, she would just slip away again. He pulled her to him and made sure he could feel her breathing against his chest. It was shallow and labored. He held her tight and whispered into her ear so only she could hear him. “I love you Nicole, I love you and I can’t lose you. You have to be strong. Not just for me but for Bubba and Rick and everyone who cares about you.”

Nicole hung limp in Daryl’s arms before slowly raising her arms to hold him back. She was weak, after all this time thinking she was strong, she wasn’t. She had to become strong if she wanted to survive. She slowly began to get to her feet. Rick offered her a hand and she took it. He also gave her a hug.

“Nicole, I’m so sorry but it doesn’t look like anyone survived.” She felt a painful throb in her head and Rick placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “I’m so so sorry.”

She looked into Rick’s eyes and tried to be strong.

“Let’s get the kids inside,” She said softly. She walked through the compound aware of everything. She could hear the whispers of Lori and Carol, she could feel the eyes of everyone else. She passed her brother and locked eyes with him. Surprisingly, they were soft and had tears in them. She didn’t acknowledge him, she just walked into the compound and looked for a place that the children could feel as comfortable as they can.

~~~

Nicole was standing watch on a staircase. They had cleared the top floors and barricaded the entrances from walkers. She sighed as she grabbed her backpack and pulled out her bong. She saw the huge crack from when Daryl knocked it to the ground. She couldn’t make his name out anymore. She looked back to that night that she had first met Daryl. He only took a small hit but was still eligible to sign the bong. He had a very rough signature, like that of a young adult.

She grabbed her bag on weed and almost yelled when she saw how much there was. There was only a bowl left. She put the bong away and grabbed a small pipe instead. She loaded it up and lit it up, inhaling as much as she could and exhaling all of the bad she had accumulated these past few days.

After all of her weed was gone, she lit her second to last cigarette and sighed. She was greeted by Shane, Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and Daryl. T-Dog handed her a plate of food and she ate as she listened to the guys formulate a new plan.

“So, where are we headed now, Rick?” Shane asked as he leaned against the wall next to Nicole. “What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to say Fort Benning. We should’ve just went there from the jump.” He looked down at his hands, probably thinking of the people we lost on the way. Nicole put her hand on his and gripped it. He gripped back and sighed.

“We should probably lose some of the cars. We need the fuel more than the vehicles.” Nicole chimed in as she blew smoke out of her nose. Daryl scooted a little closer to her and carefully grabbed her injured hand. The bruises were now a yellowish brown and the scabs were thick and fat.

“Okay, so first thing tomorrow we’re going to set out, try to scavenge some supplies and try to make it out of here.” Rick stood and left, slowly followed by the others. Shane stood and told Nicole he would be back in a little bit to take over watch.

Daryl stayed with Nicole and after everyone had left he wrapped his arm around her and placed his head on her shoulder. She grinned at the typical Daryl, not wanting to show his soft side in front of people. She took his other hand and held it. She couldn’t believe she had almost wanted to die and never see this man again.

She needed him and he needed her.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his head still on her shoulder.

“Yea, I am now,” She turned to face him and was about to confess what she had been holding in.

“You wanted to die didn’t you?” He asked. Nicole looked into his eyes and sighed.

“Yes. I gave up. I didn’t believe in hope anymore.” She began to cry and she hugged him tightly. “I am so sorry Daryl. I didn’t think you would be enough but I was wrong. You are all I need.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I understand. Shh, don’t cry. I’m here.” She cried in Daryl’s arms until it was time for Shane to keep watch.

~~~

Nicole awoke with a start. It was not yet dawn and she was shaking due to the nightmare she woke from. Daryl was at her side in minutes, giving her words of comfort.

“It’s okay, Nicole. Don’t worry okay?” She slumped into his arms and sighed. When she looked up at his face she was a little bit angry.

“Daryl Dixon were you watching me all night again?” He merely shrugged and stood helping Nicole to her feet. She shook her head at him and slowly stepped around the other survivors, being careful not to step on anyone.

They walked out to the staircase and saw Shane keeping watch.

“How much longer until dawn?” Nicole asked him and she sat on the stair.

“I’d say a couple hours,” He tiredly replied. He ran a hand over his face and exhaled sharply.

“You can sleep Shane.” Nicole told him. “I’ll take watch.”

“Are you sure? I can hold out for a little while longer.”

“Don’t you dare,” She insisted. “Once we begin to head out, we’re going to need you alert.” She then turned to Daryl. “Both of you.”

“Yes ma’am,” Shane grinned as he stood and walked back into the room Nicole and Daryl had come out of. Daryl sat on the step below Nicole and placed his head in her lap. She smiled as she heard his soft breathing only minutes after laying his head down. She ran her hands through his hair and kept a vigilant eye on the stair case and alert ears on the noises outside.

Occasionally she would hear walkers bang against the door they blocked but without anything to hold their interest they would wander off after a few minutes.

Nicole began to see the sky turn from black to a dark gray and sighed. Dawn was approaching and soon they would be on the road again heading towards another pipe dream.

She looked down at Daryl and had a song suddenly come to her mind. She cleared her throat and began to sing soft enough for only a sleeping Daryl to hear.

“As she watches me while I sleep, I dream of her leaving tonight. As she watches me while I sleep, I dream of her leaving tonight. Ohhh. Do you look at every boy that way? Why do I feel I shouldn't wait, I shouldn't wait for you? I'm not getting any younger, sick of wasting all my time, so if you're down then stay with me, surrender yourself to me.”

She stopped when she heard the stirring of the other survivors in the room. She gently shook Daryl awake and they all began to start their journey completely unaware of what lies ahead.

~~~

Nicole hesitantly reached for her bag and fished out her last cigarette. She wouldn’t get a chance to smoke it on the back of Daryl’s motorcycle so she figured she may as well smoke it now. She lit it and watched everyone around her move their bags and other stuff around. She looked off in the direction Daryl and T-Dog went off and fell into a daze. She was pulled out of it when she saw Lori and Carol walking up to her.

She took a hit of her cigarette but didn’t put it out. She merely hid it behind her back.

“Hey, Nicole, Carl and Sophia were wondering if maybe Bubba could ride with us for a little bit. They kind of became friends.” She grinned and I smiled back.

“I don’t have a problem with that, did you ask Rael? He is Bubba’s dad.”

“Well,” Carol started. “We were hoping you would do it for us. He’s become a little unhinged and it’s just worrying me.” She looked over in the direction of her brother who was waiting next to him Camaro watching over Bubba who was playing with a little toy car with Carl and Sophia.

Suddenly, Carl and Sophia got up and asked Rael something. At first it seemed like he didn’t hear them and they were about to answer again when he said something without looking at the children. They got really excited and turned to Bubba. He also got excited and he ran to hug his dad’s legs. Rael just put a hand on his head and then Bubba flew after the two bigger kids. Sophia slowed and took his hand as they ran in Nicole’s, Carol’s and Lori’s direction.

“Mom! Mom!” Carl quietly shouted as he got closer to Lori. Rael said that Bubba could ride with us in Carol’s car!” Nicole couldn’t help but smile at Carl and Sophia. They had become such good friends for Bubba and it was seeming he was going to need those more if his dad didn’t straighten up.

After Lori and Carol thanked Nicole and walked back towards Carol’s Cherokee, Nicole quickly finished her cigarette and went to meet Daryl as he walked toward his bike. They looked around and saw that the convoy was ready to move.

Nicole hopped on after Daryl and he started it up. The roar of the engine signaling the time to depart and leave the dead burnt out city of Dallas behind. Daryl started to move forward and Nicole turned around to make sure everyone was following. Once she gave Daryl the all clear, he picked up speed and wove his ways through the cars and dead bodies that were piled everywhere. Once the outskirts were in view, he went faster. Nicole wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and shielded her face behind his back.

Nicole occasionally looked back to make sure they convoy was still there, she didn’t want to lose anyone now, after everything they had gone through together. She also thought about Amy and Jim and Jacqui and her family who was murdered. She thought about how in a way they were lucky because all the pain and anger and sadness was over for them. They didn’t have to live in this world anymore. However, she also thought that they didn’t have a chance to see what this world could become. She held onto Daryl tighter and rode right into the tomorrow she wasn’t even sure was going to be there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What will our group encounter? What lies ahead for the survivors?

Nicole wanted desperately to take a nap, to just rest her eyes and mind for a few minutes. However, with the loud roar of Daryl’s motorcycle and the fear of falling off the back of said motorcycle, sleep was impossible. So Nicole had nothing to do but think.

She thought about Rael. Her older brother has been gradually turning into something that Nicole just couldn’t name. He was a murderer, a drinker, mentally unstable and a possible danger to himself and other. Nicole knew she couldn’t help him, not anymore. Rael was too far gone and nothing could bring him back.

Rick also began to think. He began to keep the times in the front of his mind as opposed to the back. Good and happy memories like the trip he and Lori took to the Grand Canyon when Carl was just a baby. These good memories were the key to believing in hope. If he didn’t believe in that hope, the people he was responsible for, the people he cared about, would lose the drive to push on. After everything that’s happened, after Jenner, the CDC, Guierllmo and his group, he could see how easy it is to just give up on hope, to just roll over and quit, but if he could just let the group see him holding on, he was sure the small flame of hope would stay burning.

Rael didn’t understand why this was happening. He was feeling a darkness begin to overtake him. He loves his sister; why would he want her dead? Why was he seeing Rachel’s face in his dreams, bloody and contorted in fear? Why did he feel like he couldn’t keep Bubba safe? Why? Why? Why?

He exhaled sharply, trying to keep his shaky hands on the steering wheel of his Camaro. He needed something to help him turn his mind off, something that will make the images of Rachel, Nicole and Bubba go away. He opened the glove compartment and found his temporary sanctuary, his only escape from his demons: heroin.

Nicole began to feel the motorcycle slow down and she lifted her head off of Daryl’s wings. She gasped at the sight in front of her, the highway was a mess. There were cars everywhere and worst of all, a semi knocked over on its side, right across the road.

“Fuck,” Daryl muttered as he began to make his way to the RV. Dale waved to them from the driver’s seat.

“Please tell me we can get through that?” Dale asked. Daryl and Nicole turned around. Daryl must’ve seen something Nicole hadn’t because he nodded to Dale and went around the RV to get back to the head of the convoy. Nicole caught a glimpse of Rick driving Carol’s ride. She gave him a smile and he gave on in return. She began to feel a love for Rick. He protected her, took care of her and he also reminded her of her dad. She sighed and leaned her head against Daryl, holding tighter to him. He looked down at her hands and began to worry.

Ever since Nicole admitted that she had wanted to die, that she had given up, he couldn’t help but think about what he could’ve done, what he should’ve done to help her hold onto hope. He couldn’t ask her, she would just place all the blame on herself, she would just say that it wasn’t his fault and he would continue to feel like it was.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from behind and Nicole jumped. She turned around as Daryl brought his motorcycle to a stop. Black smoke was coming from the R.V. Dale pulled it over and Nicole and Daryl hopped off. Nicole didn’t wait for him, she quickly walked to the R.V. just as Dale opened the door.

“I knew this old cow would die sooner or later.” He exclaimed as he walked to the front of the R.V., where thick smoke was billowing from the front.

“Doesn’t look good, does it?” Nicole asked as the rest of the group began to gather.

“Nope. It’s as far from good as I’d like to admit.” The old man turned to Rick as he walked up to him. “I mean, here we are with a broken down R.V. with absolutely no leans on finding a…” He stopped midsentence as he spotted Daryl rummaging through some nearby cars. Nicole grinned and quickly joined him, grazing his back with her fingers. “Okay, I take that back. We just may find a radiator hose after all.” Dale began getting to work on the R.V. with Glenn while Shane had the rest of the group look for anything that could be of any use, despite Lori’s objections.

Nicole stood next to Daryl while he dug through some old backpacks. She looked in the direction of Carol’s car and began to wonder about Bubba and why he wasn’t out and about. Daryl glimpsed over to her, just as she began to make her way to the back of the convoy. She peeked into the yellow car and saw Bubba, laying on his back, sleeping peacefully. The way he was sprawled out reminded her of Rael, and how crazy and contorted he used to look when he slept.

She looked towards Rael’s Camaro and started wondering why he hasn’t got out of his car. She stood on the tips of her toes and began to look around, maybe he had, she just couldn’t see him. She placed her feet back on the ground and made her way to his car. She tried to peek in through the window, but Rael always had them tinted very dark just barely street legal. She reached for the door handle when I noise startled her. It was Glenn and Shane, laughing about something. She exhaled the breath she had been holding and reached for the door handle again.

She opened the door and found her brother, passed out with a tourniquet still wrapped around his arm and the syringe still in his hand. Seeing her brother like that, in the same position that she had found him in so many times before, in the exact same position that Rachel found him in when she went into labor, made Nicole feel like she was drowning. She began to sweat and she felt like her body was freezing despite the heat bearing down on her. She grabbed the needle from her brother’s hand and threw it as hard as she could. She slammed Rael’s door, knowing full well that the noise wouldn’t even cause him to stir.

“Jesus fuck, Rael…” Nicole softly muttered as she fought to keep her breathing under control. She was taking deep gasps of air, trying to keep her head above all the shit that once again, was trying to drown her. She also was so sure that Rael had kicked his heroin habit, he hasn’t used in years. However, it turns out that she was so wrong about that and who knows what else. She looked up and she caught a glimpse of Rick talking to Dale. She then remembered she had a life raft in the sea that was trying to drown her. Daryl would listen to her, he would let her curse and swear and cry and when she was all spent, when she didn’t have anything left to give, he would hold her close and stroke her hair until she fell asleep.

She was just about to start running towards Rick when she saw Rick and Dale’s expressions drop. She turned around and saw the reason why. There was a large horde of walkers heading straight for them. Nicole’s eyes grew wide and she quickly and quietly ran towards the R.V. Once Nicole was at the R.V., Rick took off towards the rest of the convoy and Dale helped Nicole up the ladder.

“Nicole, where is your brother?” Dale sharply whispered as the sounds of the walker’s moans and groans became louder. Nicole couldn’t trust herself to talk, so she pointed towards the Camaro with her head and then her and Dale laid down as flat as they could against the roof of the R.V. Nicole wanted desperately to look up, to see if her friends and Daryl were okay. However, she didn’t try to raise her head up an inch, for fear of being seen by the walking corpses. She felt for Dale’s hand and she gripped it tightly. She was scared and when she looked at the kind old man, she could see that he was scared too.

The minutes that passed by seemed like hours to Nicole, slowly bleeding by as the horde of walkers showed no sign of ending. She hated not being able to see how everyone else was doing and if they were even still alive.

All of a sudden Nicole and Dale began to hear screaming coming from inside the R.V. Dale slowly made his way to a screen window and peeked down to see who was inside. Andrea’s blue eyes met his. “It’s Andrea!” Dale sharply whispered between clenched teeth. He and Nicole both began to quickly look for something, anything, that Andrea could use as a weapon. Nicole then remembered the knife in her back pocket and handed it to Dale who opened it and used it to cut the screen open then carefully handed it to Andrea.

Nicole took deep breaths, waiting for the herd to pass them by. After a few more minutes, the coast was clear and Nicole finally was able to breathe a sigh of relief as the last couple of walkers sauntered past the R.V. She was just about to climb down the R.V. when she heard the sound of a door opening and the familiar sound of Bubba’s laugh.

“Carl! Sophia! Catch me if you can!” Little Rael ran from the highway and deep into the nearby woods, unaware of the walkers chasing after him. Nicole felt her stomach drop to her feet as she ran to try to catch up to him. She misjudged the height of the guard rail when she jumped and she ran her left shin right against it. She fell over the rail and slid a few feet down the ditch, streams of curses escaping her teeth. She tried to stand to race after him but her left leg gave out and she collapsed.

She then saw Sophia running as fast as she could after Bubba. She called out to her but Sophia didn’t stop. Nicole tried to climb up the ditch to get back to the rest of the group when all of a sudden she saw Rick run past her as if the hounds of Hell were at his heels.

She looked up to the rest of the group as Glenn and Daryl came down to help her up. Carol was bawling and clinging furiously to Lori. Nicole clung to Daryl and she couldn’t help but begin to cry herself. She began to feel something grow in her chest. It was an extreme hatred for her brother. He was tucked away in his piece of shit car, drugs in his veins while his young child was being chased by corpses. She watched Rick disappear into the trees and only once he was out of sight did she limp toward the rest of the group. Daryl helped her step over the guard rail and to the R.V. She saw T-Dog already inside with a huge cut on his arm.

“Oh my God! Are you alright?!” Nicole limped toward him and placed a hand on his broad shoulder. He was shaking slightly and trying to control his breathing.

“Y-Yea, I’m fine, homegirl. Don’t worry about me.” She gave him a tight hug and then sat across from him at the table. Daryl walked to her with a bandage.

“I don’t need that,” She straightened herself up and looked down at her jeans. A red spot was growing on her pant leg and when Daryl lifted her jeans there was a long gash straight across her leg. “Oh shit,” She muttered as she laid back on the seat. Daryl began patching her leg up and then went on to T-Dog.

“How the hell are you always getting hurt?” T-Dog chuckled as Daryl finished applying a bandage to his arm.

“Just lucky I guess,” she grinned as she stood up and began to make her way to the door of the R.V.

“Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” Daryl asked her as he put a hand on her shoulder. She gently batted it away and looked into his eyes.

“I have to go wait for Bubba to make it back. I need to make sure he’s okay.” T-Dog stood as well, looking at Nicole with a worried expression.

“What happened to him? Where did he go?”

“He ran out into the woods. Sophia ran after him and so did a couple of walkers.” T-Dog exhaled sharply and ran a hand over his face.

“They’re going to be okay.” Nicole stated as she headed outside. “They are.” She whispered to herself as she limped to where Lori and Carol were waiting.

***

Nicole was beginning to get anxious. It had been an hour since Rick had left and Carol weeping next to her wasn’t helping. She began to drum her fingers on the guard rail, trying to keep a hold of her sanity.

She then heard the door to Rael’s Camaro open and she felt her fist clenched. She turned her head in his direction and saw him walking towards her, rubbing the spot on his arm where the tourniquet was tied. She could feel her whole body shaking with anger as she walked to meet him. He coughed a couple of times and when Nicole was standing in front of him, he looked down at her with watery eyes.

“What’s going on?” he asked, coughing again. He wiped his nose and began looking around the highway. “Where is Tres?” Nicole herself didn’t even see what was coming next. She punched her brother square in the nose. His head bucked back and he stumbled back a couple of steps. She didn’t give him a chance to recover. She punched him again, this time right on the side of his face. He recovered quickly this time and backhanded her across the face. At this point, the rest of the survivors began to quickly try to break up the fight but not before Nicole tackled her brother, punching him repeatedly in the face. Rael gave her a kick to her legs, hitting her left one a couple of times, causing her to cry out loudly. Daryl began to pull Nicole away and Glenn and Shane grabbed Rael, trying their hardest to keep him from charging at Nicole.

“You want to know where your son is?! You really want to know where your son is?!” Rael was still trying to get out of Glenn and Shane’s grasp while Nicole was struggling in Daryl’s strong arms. “He ran out into the woods chased by corpses! While you were in that piece of shit car injecting that shit into your arm, Bubba ran out into the woods!” She finally stopped struggling when she realized that Daryl wasn’t going to let go. “He’s gone! Bubba is gone!!” Rael’s expression changed from rage to utter confusion.

“What the fuck are you going on about, Nicole? Bubba is fine! He is just fine!” Nicole found a chance to slip out of Daryl’s grasp and before he could catch her she was in Rael’s face again, his shirt clenched in her fist, blood from the cuts on her knuckles dripping onto it.

“He is far from fine! He is as far from fine as humanly possible! He could be just as dead as Rachel for all we fucking know! All because of you!” Rael ripped his arms away from Glenn and Shane and wrapped his large hands around Nicole’s throat. She clawed at his face but he wasn’t loosening his grip. It took everything that Daryl, Shane, Glenn, Andrea and Dale had to pull him off. As soon as they did, Daryl delivered a huge punch to his face, knocking him out cold.

Nicole laid on the ground, desperately trying to catch her breath but couldn’t because of the sobs in her throat. Daryl and Dale helped her up and she gently waved them away, once she was sure she could stand on her own feet. She walked away from everyone and tried to breath at a steady pace. She felt like everything was falling apart. She couldn’t get her thoughts in order and her mind was everywhere, like her skull and skin had dissolved leaving her brain to float around in the netherworld.

She leaned against a faded yellow Mustang and tried to reign her brain in. She focused on some good memories of her dad and her old friends. She tried to remember her life before the apocalypse and to remember the great and happy times of her life. It all was working until she realized the yellow Mustang she was leaning on looked almost exactly like the one that Ray had almost bought her for their two-year anniversary.

***

“Nicole, just please tell me again why you won’t let me get this for you.” Ray leaned his head out of the Mustang’s open window and gazed at Nicole, who was taking a drag of her cigarette leaning against the faded car.

“Ray, I’m pretty sure my dad and brother are going to notice this hot mess in my driveway.” She threw her smoke out on the ground and snubbed it out with her heel. Ray gave a sigh and exited the car.

“Nicole, baby, I am trying to do something nice for you. Why aren’t you letting me?” He got close to her and wrapped his strong arms around her.

“You being with me is all I need.” Nicole whispered into his chest and he held her tighter. He began to run his hands all over her body causing shivers to run up and down her spine. He looked into her eyes and leaned in to kiss her. She playfully pulled away, causing a spark to shine in Ray’s eyes. He gently ran his hand through her hair and violently pulled. An excited moan escaped her lips and he held her in place giving her an excited kiss.

He began to run his hands all over her body then up her black lacy skirt. She began to moan into his mouth as he felt her excitement. She began to run her hands all over his body when she began to feel something warm and sticky on her hands. She opened her eyes and saw Ray, dead and cold, in front of her. His yellow eyes looked at her with worry.

“Nicole? Are you okay?” She started shaking when she realized she could see through the hole that Daryl’s pickaxe made.

“No! No! No!”

***

“NO! NO! NO!” Nicole began to punch the yellow Mustang. “NO! NO! GO AWAY!” She began switching from her left fist to her right, punching the car over and over again. Daryl, Shane and Glenn once again tried their hardest to pull Nicole away from the car.

“Nicole! Stop!” Daryl grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. She just began crying and collapsed into Daryl’s arms. She began to feel guilty for everything that was happening. She felt guilty for what happened to Ray and his death. She felt guilty for not being able to keep Rael sane and for not keeping Bubba safe. She then began to feel guilty for something she never thought she would ever feel guilty about: the death of Sam Rocter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of old feelings being brought up. Why would, after all this time, these feelings be re-surfacing? What is going through Nicole's head?


End file.
